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Badge of Pride
Wednesday February 3, 2010 at 10 pm ET/PT on CBC News Network
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Twenty-five years ago, Toronto's gay pride parade was a protest march, held to speak out against police raids against gay bathhouses. In 2005, the city's Police Chief, Bill Blair marched alongside the muscle boys, the leather daddies, the drag queens and the dykes on bikes. It was a first for Toronto. We've come a long way. Or have we? Badge of Pride is a documentary that looks at the lives of gay cops in Canada; cops who are out, cops who are closeted and cops who are somewhere in between the closet and the cruiser.
Shot in Toronto, Badge of Pride looks at how queer cops in Canada's largest police force deal with being gay in a profession that has traditionally been perceived as anti-gay. The storyline revolves around four main characters who have each developed different coping strategies. Being gay has shaped their professional paths - whether they'd like to admit it or not.
We meet Constable Jackie O'Keefe (43), a ten year veteran of the Toronto Police Force who entered policing after spending a decade as a lesbian activist; Sergeant Judy Nosworthy (48), a twenty-two year veteran who is the country's first out Lesbian cop and the highest-ranking LGBT cop in Canada; Constable Todd Hillhouse (45), a nineteen year veteran who says he was hounded out of street patrols and into a desk job by homophobes in his division and Constable Paul Regan, a rookie who just joined the service and is openly gay in his division.
Director, Min Sook Lee
Director Min Sook Lee spent over a year following policing issues in her award winning documentary, 'Hogtown'. During that time, she secured extraordinary access to insiders within the police force. Badge of Pride has access to police officers on the job, in training, at the office and on the beat.
We ask: Why would you join a club that doesn't want you as a member? Why would you put your life on the line by doing a job in which your personal safety depends on being accepted as part of the clique – knowing that your very identity makes you an outsider? Badge of Pride looks at the conflicts and challenges facing LGBT cops in Canada. Coming out as a gay cop has its price. Badge of Pride asks: "Will the force be with you if you're gay?"
Badge of Pride is directed by Min Sook Lee for Hungry Eyes Film & Television Inc. in association with CBC News Network.
"LGBT" = lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans-gendered
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